Durian diplomacies

Abstract

What happens to a village when its material foundations are destroyed and its new incarnation is refused recognition by the state? This narrative explores the diplomatic strategies through which a recently displaced Bornean community has sought to create a liveable future in its new site above a dam, by reaching beyond the state to set up relations and alliances with non-state players. Drawing on long-term research, I trace how the villagers have used various nonhuman entities as ambassadors and material bridges that both represent their new village and extend its capacity to engage with the rest of the world. Importantly, however, such diplomatic processes are also helping to constitute their new home’s contours and identity, allowing them—in conversation with others—to figure out what the new village is and could be.